“Ronan, I—“ What could I say? That I didn’t regret any of it either? Because I did. I didn’t want to be sitting here, watching the hours tick by to my almost-certain death. But it wasn’t just my life that was coming to an end. Ronan hadn’t asked for any of this either. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“Well,” he laughed, “I wouldn’t mind a cheeseburger.”
Guys and food. I smiled. “Let’s go then.”
He bought the book for me—a gesture in optimism—and we went to hunt down the best burger joint in the city.
“Rise and shine, lovebirds,” a gruff voice said loudly.
I opened my eyes, squinting at all the sunshine swaddling the forest we were in. Ronan was stirring next to me on the blanket we shared. Memory hazily came back to me. After eating, we’d gone for a drive and ended up at the rendezvous site. We sat on a blanket talking for a while until apparently falling unconscious.
Now there were dozens of men clad in dark clothing bustling about the trees. Most of them were loading or hauling technical-looking equipment around. I sat up.
“Ronan,” I said, gently nudging his shoulder.
He sat up and looked around sleepily. His hair was disheveled and he looked more charming than ever.
“You two need to move,” one of the men barked. “We need to set up a camouflage post there.”
Ronan stood first and then helped me up. I tried to smooth out my wrinkled clothes as I looked around for Garvan—the only one of these guys I could put a name to.
He found us first. “Decided to get up finally?” he asked sarcastically as he walked over, sunglasses concealing his eyes.
“We’re here, as agreed,” Ronan said.
“Good. Go into that trailer there,” he gestured behind him, “and let Peirce know you’re here—he’s expecting you. He’ll give you all the information you need.”
I had a sudden impulse to shout Sir, yes sir! and march away. But we just nodded and went to the trailer. Peirce turned out to be an older man with graying hair, but still very in shape.
“Ah, our bait’s here,” he said when he saw us. “Please, have a seat.”
We sat together on the couch in the one-room trailer. A woman was sitting at a desk on one end, busily typing away at her laptop, but she paid us no mind.
“Your part of this scheme is simple,” Peirce began. “Stand in the spot we tell you to, and talk to the aliens as long as you can. Get them as calm as you can. We’ll intercede as soon as we feel we have our best opportunity. Don’t look around for us. We have every inch of the area monitored—if one of the creatures even blinks out of pattern, we’ll know about it. Our priority is to get you out alive, so rest assured that’s what will happen. Any questions?”
“What are you going to do with us—after?” I asked.
“You’re free to do whatever you like. It’s not the practice of the CIA to take civilians as prisoners.”
I scoffed. “That’s not how I remember it.”
Peirce glared at me, but I stared icily back.
“Let’s just get through this evening,” he said, “and then we’ll worry about what’s to come. Garvan will show you where you’ll need to be for the encounter.”
We exited the trailer into the hustle-and-bustle that was going on. There had to be at least fifty men and women scurrying about.
“Well,” I said to Ronan. “Now what?” We had hours before show time.
He was surveying the scene with an analytical eye and didn’t respond—just guided me to a grassy patch and asked me to stay there while he “ran an errand”.
I didn’t really want to be left alone while CIA agents gave me curious passing glances, but he said he wouldn’t be long. It was awkward, sitting there, the topic of curiosity.
“She’s got a watcher in her head,” one of the men said to another, a bit too loudly.
“I heard the alien is in love with her,” another confided.
I wished I had a cell phone I could pretend to be occupied with.
After what felt like forever, Ronan finally returned. He came bearing food and information.
“It was the best I could find,” he said, handing me a styrofoam box brimming with Chinese food.
“Thanks,” I said, snapping the chopsticks apart.
“I think you should know,” he said quietly, “that their top priority is not getting us out of this alive.”
“They want a Kema’dor,” I said glumly, “more than anything.”
He nodded. “I think we need to have our own plan, in case theirs doesn’t turn out.”
I had been thinking the same thing, but hadn’t been able to come up with anything that seemed it would have even a small chance of success. Besides, we all knew how well my plans had gone in the past.
“Kema’dor can be crafty. They aren’t called the connivers of the galaxy for nothing. I doubt all will go as planned tonight. But if you get a chance to escape, I want you to take it. No matter what.”
“That’s going to be our plan? Run?”
Clearly frustrated, he said, “Gamafor took everything I could have used in this situation. The trailer we met Peirce in is fully defensible, though. I doubt the Kema’dor could penetrate the armor on it.” Then, to himself, he muttered, “So much for my efforts to save you.”
I leaned forward and kissed him lightly. “You’ve done more for me than anyone ever has. Even if things go wrong tonight, you’ve already been my hero.”
He smiled sadly.
“The same goes for you, you know,” I said. “If you see a chance to run, you have to take it.”
He nodded noncommittally, and took a bite of chow mein. I was sure he had his own private agenda for the evening. But he’d always kept things from me.
Chapter 24
A confrontation between earthlings and Kema’dor is imminent. Shall we intervene?
This was fully projected. Under code AM124, interference is forbidden. Leave them to their fate.
We stood nervously together in the dimming light, surrounded by dozens of people who were totally undetectable. Well, I stood nervously—Ronan seemed totally collected.
All the busyness of the day was replaced with quiet stillness. The agents had done an impeccable job of making themselves and all their equipment seemingly disappear. Anyone who walked into this area would have never known it was anything more than trees and grass.
I hoped the Kema’dor would think so too. Once they found out about the lies and betrayal…. Well, I didn’t know how Ronan could be so calm in the face of that.
The Kema’dor were late, making me even more edgy than I had been. Picking up on my nerves, Ronan took my hand. I half expected the Kema’dor to come tearing out of the sky, guns blazing, killing us before we even had a chance to speak.
Finally we heard the sounds of large creatures shuffling through the leaves. My already-iron grip of Ronan’s hand clamped even tighter as seven or eight Kema’dor—the fighter kind—appeared before us. My breath caught.
“You’ve broken our agreement,” one of them said. I couldn’t tell which. “And will therefore die.”
Suddenly two of the aliens seized Ronan and pulled him yards away. It was so quick I didn’t have a chance to react. With all the hulking aliens and trees between us, I couldn’t see him at all.
“All right, human,” one of the Kema’dor snarled, “you have one chance to tell us what you know.”
Had this been my first encounter with aliens, I’m sure I wouldn’t have had the guts to defy them. But this was almost becoming routine. “I’m not telling you anything without Ronan here.”
Burbling laughter.
“That’s not how this works, girl—we’ll be making the demands.”
Another Kema’dor pointed his weapon at me. “If your information matches the information Ronan has, you’ll be reunited. And if the information is solid, you can look forward to a swift death. If you think you can fool us with nonsense, you can expect your end to be slow and
painful. Kema’dor specialize in slow and painful executions. We find it’s practical knowledge to have.”
“Out with it!” another of my captives snapped. “What intel do you have!”
I panicked. Whatever I said, I was sure it wouldn’t be the same as what Ronan did. We hadn’t planned for this; I was just going to follow his lead. Why hadn’t the CIA made their move?
“They said…” I faltered. “They said they would give you the cure if you could catch them. That that would prove you were worthy.”
Out of nowhere the world abruptly shifted, and everything—both alien and human—tumbled to the ground. Then, while we were all still disoriented, things began falling from the trees, and shots came firing from all around.
A human figure covered from head to toe in camo came barreling toward me at incredible speed and scooped me up while I was still trying to get my legs underneath me. Still sprinting at top speed, he carried me away from the aliens, away from Ronan.
“Stop!” I managed to yell. He ignored me. “Stop!” I yelled again, wriggling in his grasp.
Abruptly he set me down on my feet, right next to Garvan.
“Where’s Ronan,” I yelled over the commotion. There were people running every direction, explosions seemingly going off randomly, and the Kema’dor’s electric weapons flashing through all the dust and smoke.
“He was moved out of range,” Garvan shouted back. “We hadn’t prepped for a rescue at that distance!”
“You can’t abandon him!”
Garvan ignored me and responded to a radio call.
“Copy that. Move to 2 o’clock and approach on the flank.”
“You have to help!” I yelled, but he lifted a pair of binoculars to peer through and abruptly turned away.
“Get to the trailer!” He yelled back at me as he went off.
I could see a clear path to the trailer—there was nothing to stop me from crossing the twenty yards to safety.
I turned away from it and ran.
The last place I’d seen Ronan was to the north, and I ran full on into the dusty smoke cloud that was now a war zone. My shoulder bumped into an angry Kema’dor, half covered in netting, snarling at the men around him as he waved his weapon.
A few yards later I tripped, full on, face first, and earned a mouthful of dirt and bloody nose. I looked back to see what had made me fall, and saw one of the Kema’dor’s stick weapons laying on the ground. It was buzzing from the blue electricity that sparked from the ends.
I grabbed it in the middle and turned back in pursuit of Ronan. I found him, hands and feet tied, lying not too far from where I’d seen him last.
“Alex! You’re okay!”
“Are you?” I asked, grabbing at the ties that bound him.
“Yes—but you have to go!”
“I’m not leaving you!”
“Look out!” he shouted.
I turned around and, through the dusty air, saw a large Kema’dor making a beeline straight for me. I grabbed the electric stick and held it with both hands crosswise in front of me and Ronan, who was trying to wriggle his way out of the ties.
The Kema’dor didn’t say anything, just raised its weapon and brought it swinging like a baseball bat toward my left side. I reflexively swung my stick down, blocking it.
Quickly, the alien twisted his weapon again, this time aiming toward my neck, but I managed to block it again. I had a split second to attack, so I swung the stick upward toward his middle. He spun out of the way, and landed a roundhouse kick to my face, making me topple over Ronan.
“What are you doing?” he yelled. “Get out of here!”
I stood up and saw another Kema’dor approaching. I swung the stick back and forth, pointing it at the two of them, trying to make them keep their distance.
They had a brief exchange of garbling, then one swung its weapon at my shoulder, and the other toward my ankles. I had no choice but to step back, tripping into Ronan again.
“Alex, run,” he whispered viciously into my ear. Then he turned toward the Kema’dor.
“Hey morons! You really came all this way to fight an untrained human? Too scared to take on someone with experience?”
I glanced at him, disbelievingly.
“Come on!” he continued. “You don’t really want to walk away from this saying all you got was some teenage girl, do you?”
The two aliens exchanged a look. Then one raised its weapon. I scrambled to block the attack, but was too late.
The sparking electricity was burrowed into his side, filling his whole body with a massive amount of voltage. He twitched violently for a moment, then went deathly still.
Suddenly one of the Kema’dor slumped to the ground, followed immediately by the other. Two CIA officers came running toward them. One checked the faces of the aliens, while the other removed wicked-looking darts from their backs. She raised her radio and spoke.
“We’ve got two more, vitals in check, on the north side.”
I turned away from them.
Ronan still hadn’t moved. I fell across his chest, begging in whispers for him to be okay.
Holding very still, I checked to see if he was breathing.
Nothing.
“Please don’t die,” I whispered.
Suddenly his eyes opened slightly. He looked up at me and smiled faintly. Then both the smile and his eyes fell, and he was gone.
Chapter 25
Dearest Alexandra,
Based on all known factors going into this confrontation, I believe the odds are high that you will receive this letter. You’ve always been dismissive of my apologies, but please let me begin by telling you how deeply sorry I am. Sorry that I wasn’t able to make it; sorry that I couldn’t help you fulfill your dreams; and above all, my deepest apology that I wasn’t able to shield you from any of the turmoil that was thrust down upon you without consent.
I urge you to search for a way to find peace, in spite of it all. So that when you look to the stars, you will feel the same awe and serenity you once did, instead of anguish.
I have no advice to give about how to find this peace; I was never able to attain it myself. But, knowing you, your grit, astuteness, and above all, your resilience—I have faith that you can overcome the strife these experiences have given you.
Believe in yourself, as I believe in you.
Forever yours,
Ronan
I read numbly through my letter again. It, as well as a collection of Solamure musical pieces, had been left with Mom to give me, which she did a few days after the CIA had handily dropped me off on the doorstep.
Mom had been appalled at my condition—covered in blood and dirt, but I had insisted they take me straight home after the forest fight. The last thing I could handle was dealing with a bunch of suits.
They’d argued—wanted to take me back to headquarters, but I had absolutely demanded, until they gave in. It was clear none of them had wanted to deal with an emotional teenage girl.
And then, nothing.
Days had passed. Mom brought the letter—it meant nothing. It changed nothing.
It certainly hadn’t change the fact that, only now, after he was gone, did I realize I’d been in love with him. Because only love could have caused so deep a grief as this.
As much as I wished no aliens had ever come into my life, I couldn’t wish I’d never met him. Somehow, through light years of space, we’d come together, and he’d become the love of my life, the center of my universe.
Ronan spoke of resilience. There’s only so much resilience a person has, I’d thought. He’d been wrong about me. He’d been wrong about so many things. And it had killed him.
“Alexandra? Did you hear me?” Dr. O’Connell asked.
She sat across from me in a gray plaid skirt and white blouse, pen pressed into the corner of her lips. My therapist. Mom’s hope for fixing me.
I forced myself to look up from the door jam I’d been absentmindedly studying.
“Hm?
”
“I asked if you feel you’ve made any progress this past week. On your goals.”
I looked down at my letter again. I read it before every session.
“I’m not sure,” I told the paper.
“Well, let’s look at the first one,” she said firmly. Her stubborn drive and my apathy butt heads every week. “Make a friend. Have you reached out to anyone?”
No.
“Remember, you were going to get back online? And start there? Did you log in to your old accounts?”
What did I care about any of that now? My father was gone. My savior was gone. The future I’d once imagined was gone. All that was left was misery. Miserable people didn’t log into their computers and share emojis with superficial friends on social media. At least, this miserable person didn’t.
She waited so long I finally cleared my throat and said, “Uh, no. I didn’t.”
She gave me a long, thoughtful look.
“Well, then, what about your second goal? Getting out of the house? Did you do that?”
Huh. I had, actually. It didn’t once cross my mind that it was a goal my forever-patient therapist had set for me, but for the first time since the fight, I’d left the house on my own accord—sneakily, in the middle of the night. I’d walked—walked and walked, miles and miles of road—until I reached the mountain peak that Ronan had taken me after my father had died.
And then I’d sat, alone and cold, looking at the night sky. One day you realize you’ve adapted, Ronan had said that night. Was he right?
“Alexandra? Any progress on that goal?”
I managed to look up from my letter at her. She seemed surprised by the eye contact.
“Um, yes,” I grunted. “I did go out.”
She smiled. “Well, see? There you go. Progress.”
Maybe it was.
Chapter 26
Regarding the Homo sapiens life restoration project, all the experimental results have been positive.
Understanding the Stars Page 17